Act 5, Scene 3

[A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets. Enter Paris, and his Page bearing flowers and a torch.]

Paris

Give me thy torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof.

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.

Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along

Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground,

So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread —

Paris

Give me your torch, boy. Go stand away from me. No, put out the torch. I’d rather not been seen. Lie there under those yew trees with your ears close to the ground. That way you’ll hear if anyone comes into the churchyard or tries to dig up a grave. If you hear someone, signal me by whistling. Give me those flowers. Do as I asked you to. Go.

Page

I’m almost afraid to wait here in the churchyard, but I’ll try to be brave.

Being loose, un-firm with digging up of graves —

But thou shalt hear it. Whistle then to me

As signal that thou hearest something approach.

Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.

Page

[Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone

Here in the churchyard, yet I will adventure.

[Retires]

Paris

Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew, —

O woe, thy canopy is dust and stones! —

Performance

Lines 12-21

[Click to launch video.]

Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,

Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans.

The obsequies that I for thee will keep

Paris

Juliet, sweet flower, I’ll spread flowers on your bridal bed. Oh woe! Your bed’s canopy is made of dust and stones. I’ll sprinkle it with perfume every night, or in lieu of scent, I’ll sprinkle it with my own tears distilled from my sadness. I’ll keep an observance for you every night, sprinkling your grave with perfume and weeping here.

[The Page whistles]

The boy gave the signal that something’s coming. Who could possibly be wandering here tonight, interfering with the rituals of my true love? Oh, they’ve got a torch! Night, hide me for awhile.

Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.

[The Page whistles]

The boy gives warning something doth approach.

What cursed foot wanders this way tonight,

To cross my obsequies and true love's rite?

What, with a torch! Muffle me, night, a while.

[Retires. Enter Romeo and Balthasar, with a torch]

Romeo

Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.

Hold, take this letter. Early in the morning

See thou deliver it to my lord and father.

Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee,

Whate'er thou hearest or seest, stand all aloof

Romeo

Give me the ax and the crowbar. Hang on, take this letter. Make sure you deliver it to my father early in the morning. Give me the torch. On my life, I order you to stay here. Don’t follow me no matter what your hear or see. Don’t interrupt me in my business. I’m going into this tomb partly to see her face, but mostly because I have to take a precious ring that I need for a very costly business. So get out of here, go away.

And do not interrupt me in my course.

Why I descend into this bed of death

Is partly to behold my lady's face,

But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger

A precious ring, a ring that I must use

In dear employment. Therefore hence, be gone.

But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry

In what I further shall intend to do,

By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.

The time and my intents are savage-wild,

More fierce and more inexorablefar

(Romeo)

If you come back to pry into what I’m doing, I swear by heaven that I’ll rip you apart and spread your limbs around this churchyard. This is a desperate time and I’m a desperate man, and these things make me more savage, fiercer, and harder to stop than a tiger or a stormy sea. Both of those will roar but not do anything.

Balthasar

I’ll go and not bother you, sir.

Romeo

In doing so you’re being a good friend. Take this. Live on and be prosperous. And farewell, good fellow.

Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.

Balthasar

I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

Romeo

So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that.

[Gives him some money]

Live, and be prosperous. and farewell, good fellow.

Balthasar

[Aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout.

His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.

[Retires]

Romeo

Balthasar

[Aside] All the same, I’ll hide here. I’m afraid for him and I doubt he’ll do what he threatened.

Romeo

You, entrance to the tomb, are like the hated mouth of an animal. You’ve eaten the sweetest thing in the world, my Juliet, and she’s made you sick with her sweetness. Now I’m going to force your rotten jaws open to cram your mouth full with another victim.

Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,

Word Nerd

"womb"

[Click to launch video.]

Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,

Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

And in despite I'll cram thee with more food!

[Opens the tomb]

Paris

This is that banished haughty Montague,

That murdered my love's cousin, with which grief

It is supposed the fair creature died;

And here is come to do some villainous shame

To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.

[Comes forward]

Paris

Why that’s the exiled Montague, who murdered my love’s cousin. Everyone supposes that the murder caused her to die of grief. And here he comes to desecrate the dead bodies! I’ll apprehend him. Stop this unholy work, you vile Montague! Are you trying to get vengeance on these people beyond death? Damned villain, I will arrest you. Obey and go with me, for you must die.

Romeo

I must indeed, and that’s what I came here for. Gentle young man, don’t tempt someone as desperate as me to violence.

Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague!

Can vengeance be pursued further than death?

Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee.

Obey and go with me, for thou must die.

Romeo

I must indeed, and therefore came I hither.

Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man.

Fly hence and leave me. Think upon these gone;

Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,

Put not another sin upon my head

By urging me to fury. O, be gone!

By heaven, I love thee better than myself,

(Romeo)

Get out of here and leave me. Let your fear of these dead bodies spur you to go. I beg you, young man, don’t make me commit more sins by provoking me to fight you. Oh, go away! I swear to heaven, I have more love for you than for myself. After all, I came here intending to hurt myself. Don’t stay here, go away, live, and tell people later that a merciful madman urged you to run away.

Paris

I challenge your disgusting behaviour, and I’m arresting you as a criminal here.

Romeo

You’re going to provoke me? Well then have at it, boy!

For I come hither armed against myself.

Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say

A madman's mercy bid thee run away.

Paris

I do defy thy conjurations,

And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Romeo

Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy!

[They fight]

Page

O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.

[Exit]

Paris

O, I am slain! If thou be merciful,

Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

[Dies]

Romeo

Page

Oh Lord, they’re fighting! I’ll go call the night’s watch.

Paris

Oh, I’ve been killed! If you are truly merciful, open up the tomb and lay me down beside Juliet.

Romeo

Indeed I will. Let me look at this face. It’s Mercutio’s cousin, Count Paris! What did my servant say, when my mind was too troubled to pay attention as we were riding here? I think he told me Paris was supposed to marry Juliet. Didn’t he say that? Or did I dream it?

In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face —

Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!

What said my man when my betossed soul

Did not attend him as we rode? I think

He told me Paris should have married Juliet.

Said he not so, or did I dream it so?

Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,

To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,

One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!

I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave.

A grave — O no, a lantern, slaughtered youth;

(Romeo)

Or have I gone mad, hearing him talking about Juliet, and that’s why I think that’s true? Oh give me your hand. You, like me, seem to be written down on fate’s list of the unlucky! I’ll bury you in a glorious grave. A grave? Oh no! I’ll bury you where there is light, poor slaughtered youth. For here lies Juliet, and her radiant beauty makes this dark crypt full of light. Dead soul, lie there, buried by one soon to be dead himself. Isn’t it strange how often people are described as happy when they’re at the point of death? Their caretakers call it lightning before death.

For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes

This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.

[Laying Paris in the tomb]

How oft when men are at the point of death

Have they been merry, which their keepers call

A lightning before death. O, how may I

Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife,

Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,

Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.

Thou art not conquered; beauty's ensign yet

(Romeo)

Oh how can I call my own a lightning? Oh my love! My wife! Death, which has taken away your sweet breath, has not yet taken away your beauty. You haven’t yet been truly conquered, and Beauty still carries its red coat-of arms in your cheeks and lips like a proud army that has not yet submitted to Death and its pale flags. Tybalt, are you lying there in your bloody shroud? Oh what more can I do for you than to kill myself, your enemy, with the very hand that cut off your youth?

Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,

And death's pale flag is not advanced there.

Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?

O, what more favour can I do to thee

Than, with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,

To sunder his, that was thine enemy?

Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,

Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe

That unsubstantial Death is amorous,

And that the lean abhorred monster keeps

Thee here in dark to be his paramour?

(Romeo)

Forgive me, cousin! Ah dear Juliet, why are you still so beautiful? Is invisible death in love with you? Is that hated monster keeping you in this tomb to be his lover? I’m afraid he might be, so I’ll stay here with you, and I’ll never leave this palace of dim night again. Here, right here, I’ll remain with the worms that are your chambermaids now. Oh, here I’ll set up my everlasting rest, and I’ll shake off the burden of my unlucky fate from my weary body. Eyes, look for the last time!

For fear of that I still will stay with thee,

And never from this palace of dim night

Depart again. Here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chamber-maids. O, here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

Performance

Lines 101-120

[Click to launch video.]

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!

Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide,

(Romeo)

Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, with this virtuous kiss seal a contract with death that has no end or limit! Let’s go, bitter action. Let’s go, guiding hand! Rush on like a pilot driven mad with sea-sickness, crashing a ship on the rocks. Here’s to my love! [Drinks] Oh you were a true apothecary! Your drugs work quickly. I’ll die with a kiss.

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!

Here's to my love!

[Drinks]

O true apothecary,

Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Dies.]

Language

"crow"

[Click to see note.]

Language

"crow"

Until relatively recently, a "crow" was the name for what we call a crow-bar. It was called this because the slightly curved and tapered end of the iron bar resembles the beak of crow.

[Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, Friar Laurence, with a lantern, crow, and spade]

Friar Laurence

Balthasar

Friar Laurence

Balthasar

Friar Laurence

Balthasar

Friar Laurence

Balthasar

I dare not, sir. My master thinks I left him alone, and he threatened to kill me if I watched what he was doing.

Full half an hour.

Friar Laurence

Go with me to the vault.

Balthasar

I dare not, sir

My master knows not but I am gone hence,

And fearfully did menace me with death,

If I did stay to look on his intents.

Friar Laurence

Stay, then, I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me.

O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

Balthasar

As I did sleep under this yew-tree here,

Friar Laurence

Stay, then. I’ll go alone. I’m beginning to be very afraid. Oh I fear some disaster.

Balthasar

I fell asleep under this yew tree here, and I had a dream my master fought another man and killed him.

Friar Laurence

Romeo! Oh no, oh no, who’s blood is this that’s all over the entrance to the crypt? Why are there bloody swords without owners lying here in this place of peace?

I dreamt my master and another fought,

And that my master slew him.

Friar Laurence

Romeo!

[Advances]

Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains

The stony entrance of this sepulchre?

What mean these masterless and gory swords

To lie discolored by this place of peace?

[Enters the tomb]

Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too?

And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour

Language

"unkind"

[Click to see note.]

Language

"unkind"

"Unkind" can mean "cruel," which is how we use it today.

But in this case, it also means "unnatural," or contrary to the normal nature of things. In this case, the hour is unkind because of the deaths that Friar Laurence has witnessed.

Is guilty of this lamentable chance!

The lady stirs.

[Juliet wakes]

Juliet

(Friar Laurence)

Romeo! Oh, you are pale! Who else? What, Paris too? And Paris is all bloodied? Ah, what an evil time made this tragic accident occur! Juliet is waking up.

Juliet

Oh my comforting friar! Where is my husband? I remembered where I was going to wake up, and here I am. Where is my Romeo?

Friar Laurence

I hear a noise. Lady, come out of this place of death, disease, and unnatural sleep.

O comfortable friar, Where is my lord?

I do remember well where I should be,

And there I am. Where is my Romeo?

[Noise within]

Friar Laurence

I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest

Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep.

A greater power than we can contradict

Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.

Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead,

And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee

Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.

(Friar Laurence)

Some greater power than we can know has thwarted our plans. Come on, come away. Your husband next to you lies dead, and Paris is lying here as well. Come on, I’ll hide you in a convent of holy nuns. Don’t stay here to question me, for the night’s watch is coming. Come on, good Juliet, let’s go. I don’t dare stay here any longer.

(Juliet)

I see that poison has been his untimely end. Oh you’re so selfish! You drank it all, and didn’t leave any to help me follow you? I’ll kiss your lips. Perhaps there’s still some poison that remains on them which will cure me by killing me. Your lips are warm.

First Watchman

Lead us, boy. Which way did they go?

Juliet

Someone’s coming? Then I’ll be quick. Oh, how lucky to have this dagger!

To make me die with a restorative.

Wordplay

"restorative"

[Click to see note.]

Wordplay

"restorative"

A restorative is a medicine or liquor which would restore Juliet and bring her back to consciousness. In other words, it would do the opposite of "to make me die." In one sense, the kiss is her restorative, and the drops of poison, its opposite. In another sense, in dying, Juliet is restored to Romeo.

[Kisses him]

Thy lips are warm.

[Enter watchmen and Paris’ page]

First Watchman

Lead, boy. Which way?

Juliet

Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger,

[Picking up Romeo's dagger]

This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.

[Stabs herself and falls on Romeo's body]

Page

This is the place, there where the torch doth burn.

First Watchman

The ground is bloody. Search about the churchyard.

(Juliet)

Let my body be your sheath. Rust there forever, and let me die.

Page

This is the place. There, where the torch is burning.

First Watchman

There’s blood on the ground, search the churchyard. Go, arrest whomever you find. What a pitiful sight! The count lies here, killed. And Juliet, is warm, bleeding, and must be newly dead, although she has been buried here for two days. Go, tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets. Go get the Montagues. We need some others to search.

Go, some of you, whoe'er you find, attach.

Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain,

And Juliet bleeding, warm and newly dead,

Who here hath lain these two days buried.

Go tell the prince. Run to the Capulets.

Raise up the Montagues. Some others search.

We see the ground whereon these woes do lie;

But the true ground of all these piteous woes

We cannot without circumstance descry.

[Re-enter some of the Watch, with Balthasar]

Second Watchman

(First Watchman)

We can see the ground on which all these tragedies occurred, but without motives or context, they seem groundless. Without more information, we can’t figure out what really happened.

Second Watchman

Here’s Romeo’s servant. We found him in the churchyard.

First Watchman

Hold him in custody until the Prince gets here.

Third Watchman

Here’s a friar we found trembling, sighing, and weeping. We took this ax and this spade away from him as he was coming from this side of the churchyard.

Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.

First Watchman

Hold him in safety till the prince come hither.

[Re-Enter others of the Watch with Friar Laurence]

Third Watchman

Here is a friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps.

We took this mattock and this spade from him

As he was coming from this churchyard’s side.

First Watchman

A great suspicion. Stay the friar too.

[Enter the Prince and Attendants]

Prince

What misadventure is so early up,

That calls our person from our morning's rest?

[Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, and others]

Capulet

First Watchman

Very suspicious. Keep the friar here, too.

Prince

What calamity happened so early that we were forced to get up so soon in the morning?

Capulet

What’s going on that’s making everyone so distraught?

Lady Capulet

Some people in the street cried Romeo’s name, some cried Juliet’s, some cried Paris’, and all of them were running in the direction of our mausoleum.

What should it be that they so shriek abroad?

Lady Capulet

The people in the street cry Romeo,

Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run

With open outcry toward our monument.

Prince

What fear is this which startles in our ears?

First Watchman

Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain,

And Romeo dead, and Juliet, dead before,

Prince

What’s this fearful thing we’ve been hearing?

First Watchman

Your highness, here lies Count Paris, killed, and Romeo, dead. And Juliet, who we thought had died before, is warm and seems to have been newly killed.

Prince

Search around, seek out the culprits, and find out how these foul murders happened.

First Watchman

There’s a friar here, and Romeo’s dead servant, who had tools with them that could have opened this tomb.

Warm and new killed.

Prince

Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

First Watchman

Here is a friar, and slaughtered Romeo's man,

With instruments upon them fit to open

These dead men's tombs.

Capulet

O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!

This dagger hath mista'en — for lo, his house

Is empty on the back of Montague, —

And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.

Lady Capulet

Capulet

Oh heavens! Oh, wife, look how our daughter is bleeding! This dagger has the Montague crest on it, and yet it rests in our daughter’s heart!

Lady Capulet

Oh no! This terrible sight of death is like a bell summoning me to my own grave.

Prince

Come forward, Montague, you’ve woken up to see your son brought down.

O me, this sight of death is as a bell

That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

Allusion

"this sight of death is as a bell"

[Click to see note.]

Allusion

"this sight of death is as a bell"

In the Middle Ages, and sometimes still today, church bells are rung very slowly at a funeral or in a village to announce a death. As was custom, the number of times the bell rung indicated the deceased person's age. Lady Capulet is imaging the city bell summoning her to a funeral.

[Enter Montague and others]

Prince

Come, Montague, for thou art early up

To see thy son and heir now early down.

Montague

Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight.

Grief of my son's exile hath stopped her breath.

What further woe conspires against mine age?

Prince

Montague

Alas, my lord, my wife died tonight. She was overcome with grief after his exile. What further sorrow threatens me in my old age?

Prince

Look, and you will see.

Montague

Oh you boy! What kind of thanks is this, to go to your grave before your father?

Look, and thou shalt see.

Montague

O thou untaught! What manners is in this,

To press before thy father to a grave?

Prince

Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,

Language

"Seal up the mouth of outrage"

[Click to see note.]

Language

"Seal up the mouth of outrage"

Most simply, the Prince is telling everyone to be quiet. But his double meaning could also be to tell them to cover up the opening to the tomb so that they don't look upon its horrible sights.

Till we can clear these ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head, their true descent;

And then will I be general of your woes,

And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,

Language

"lead you even to death"

[Click to see note.]

Language

"lead you even to death"

This phrase has several possible meanings:

The prince will inform you who caused these deaths.

Alternatively, he will condemn the guilty parties to death.

Or, finally, he will investigate this matter to my utmost.

And let mischance be slave to patience.

Prince

Quiet your outrage for awhile, until we can clear up the confusion and figure out how all this started and how it occurred. Then I will be understanding of your grief and lead you to death if you wish. In the meantime, hold on, and let patience rule over this misfortune. Bring forth the suspects.

Friar Laurence

I am the most suspected, although I was able to do the least. The timing and the place where I was found make it seem like I was responsible for this terrible murder. And here I stand ready for your accusations and punishments, as I have already accused and punished myself.

Bring forth the parties of suspicion.

Friar Laurence

I am the greatest, able to do least;

Yet most suspected as the time and place

Doth make against me of this direful murder;

And here I stand both to impeach and purge,

Myself condemned, and myself excused.

Prince

Then say at once what thou dost know in this.

Friar Laurence

I will be brief, for my short date of breath

Is not so long as is a tedious tale.

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;

Prince

Then tell us immediately what you know about this.

Friar Laurence

I will be brief. I fear I may not have long to live, so I won’t tell a tedious story. Romeo, who lies dead there, was Juliet’s husband, and she was his faithful wife. I married them, and their wedding day, which was cut so short, was the day Tybalt was killed. That caused Romeo, the new groom, to flee the city. It was for him, and not for Tybalt, that Juliet was grieving.

And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife.

I married them, and their stol'n marriage-day

Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death

Banished the new-made bridegroom from the city,

For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.

You, to remove that siege of grief from her,

Betrothed and would have married her perforce

To County Paris. Then comes she to me,

And with wild looks bid me devise some mean

To rid her from this second marriage,

Or in my cell there would she kill herself.

(Friar Laurence)

You tried to alleviate her grief by forcing her to marry Count Paris. She came to me totally desperate, asking me for some way to get her out of this second marriage or else she would try to kill herself right there in my cell. I gave her a sleeping potion, which had the intended effect of making her seem like she had died. In the meantime, I wrote to Romeo, and told him he should return on this night to help take her from her borrowed grave, as by that time, the potion would no longer be in effect.

Then gave I her — so tutored by my art —

A sleeping potion, which so took effect

As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo,

That he should hither come as this dire night

To help to take her from her borrowed grave,

Being the time the potion's force should cease.

But he which bore my letter, Friar John,

Was stayed by accident, and yesternight

Returned my letter back. Then all alone,

At the prefixed hour of her waking,

Came I to take her from her kindred's vault,

Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,

Till I conveniently could send to Romeo.

(Friar Laurence)

But the person who carried my letter, Friar John, was held up accidentally and gave that letter back to me tonight. I came all alone to take her out of her family’s crypt. I was going to watch over her at my cell until I could get Romeo to come back. But when I got here barely a minute before Juliet was to wake up, I saw that the noble Paris and the true Romeo were dead. Juliet woke up, and I begged her to come out of the tomb and handle her grief with patience.

But when I came, some minute ere the time

Of her awaking, here untimely lay

The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.

She wakes, and I entreated her come forth

And bear this work of heaven with patience.

But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,

And she, too desperate, would not go with me,

But, as it seems, did violence on herself.

All this I know, and to the marriage

Her nurse is privy. And, if aught in this

(Friar Laurence)

But then a noise startled me out of the tomb, and she, who was in despair, wouldn’t come with me. It seems she killed herself. That’s all I know, and her nurse knows about their marriage, too. If any of this turned out so badly because of me, let my old life be sacrificed within this hour according to the law.

Prince

We have always known you to be a holy man. Where’s Romeo’s servant? What can he add to this?

Miscarried by my fault, let my old life

Be sacrificed, some hour before his time,

Unto the rigor of severest law.

Prince

We still have known thee for a holy man.

Where's Romeo's man? What can he say to this?

Balthasar

I brought my master news of Juliet's death,

And then in post he came from Mantua

To this same place, to this same monument.

This letter he early bid me give his father,

And threatened me with death, going in the vault,

If I departed not and left him there.

Prince

Balthasar

I brought Romeo news of Juliet’s death. And then he came right away from Mantua to this exact place and this exact mausoleum. He told me to give this letter to his father, and he threatened to kill me if I followed him into the crypt. I didn’t follow him, but I didn’t leave, either.

Prince

Give me the letter. I will look at it. Where is the count’s page, who called the night’s watch? You there, what was your master doing here?

Page

He came to put flowers on Juliet’s grave, and told me not to approach, so I didn’t.

Give me the letter; I will look on it.

Where is the County's page that raised the watch?

Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Page

He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave,

And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.

Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb,

And by and by my master drew on him,

And then I ran away to call the watch.

Prince

This letter doth make good the friar's words —

Their course of love, the tidings of her death.

And here he writes that he did buy a poison

(Page)

Someone came soon after with a light, intending to open the time, and then my master drew his sword to fight him. That’s when I ran away to call the watch.

Prince

This letter reinforces the friar’s story, and tells of the course of their love and that he had received the news of her death. And here he writes that he bought posion from an impoverished apothecary, and brought it with him to this crypt to die and lie beside Juliet. Where are those enemies? Lord Capulet! Lord Montague! Look what a terrible punishment has come from your shared hate, that Heaven found a way to kill your children with love. And for not dealing with your feud I, too, have lost two family members. Everyone has been punished.

Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal

Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.

Performance

Lines 286-295

[Click to launch video.]

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!

See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,

That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love;

And I, for winking at your discords too,

Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.

Capulet

O brother Montague, give me thy hand.

This is my daughter's jointure, for no more

Allusion

"jointure"

[Click to see note.]

Allusion

"jointure"

The jointure was an amount of money that Montague would have set aside to provide for Juliet in case Romeo died. But a handshake is all Capulet can demand since Juliet has also passed away.

Can I demand.

Montague

But I can give thee more.

For I will ray her statue in pure gold;

Wordplay

"ray her statue"

[Click to see note.]

Wordplay

"ray her statue"

A common practice in the tomb of a noble person was to place a carved image of the deceased on the casket. Montague is going to array, to dress, Juliet's figure in gold. Notice the pun: if she's dressed in gold, then her statue will "ray," or shine.

That while Verona by that name is known,

There shall no figure at such rate be set

As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Language

"true and faithful Juliet"

[Click to see note.]

Language

"true and faithful Juliet"

In one sense, Montague means that in Verona, no person will be as highly esteemed as Juliet.

But in a more practical sense, he's also saying that no statue will be so expensive as that as Juliet's.

Capulet

As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie;

Poor sacrifices of our enmity.

Prince

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

Performance

Lines 305-310

[Click to launch video.]

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.

Go hence to have more talk of these sad things;

Some shall be pardoned, and some punished.

Prince

This is a sad peace that the morning has brought. Indeed, even the sun won’t show his face today. Let’s go from here to talk more about these tragic events. Some people will be pardoned, others punished. For their was never a sadder story than this one of Juliet and Romeo.